Biacore and Pharmacia Corporation Collaborate

Biacore and Pharmacia Corporation Collaborate Deal validates the value of Biacore's technology in drug and serum protein binding studies Uppsala, Sweden, 12 April, 2000. Biacore International AB (Biacore) (SSE: BCOR; Nasdaq: BCOR) today announced that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with Pharmacia Corporation (Pharmacia) (NYSE: PHA; SSE:PHA), whereby the latter will evaluate Biacore's new high performance system in analyzing the serum protein binding of drug candidates. This collaboration marks the third in a series of deals secured by Biacore in the last four months which aim to fully optimize its novel analytical systems for specific late-stage drug discovery applications. Based on novel biomolecular binding analysis technology, the new instrument aims to reduce both drug discovery costs and time by providing critical decision making on drug lead selection. The deal with Pharmacia Corporation, as with the deals with Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. and SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (signed in December 1999 and February 2000, respectively), underline the growing appreciation of the potential benefits of Biacore's affinity-based biosensor technology to the pharmaceutical industry. These deals also reinforce Biacore's decision to invest US$8 million over the next two years to developing its new high performance systems geared specifically to drug discovery applications down-stream of high-throughput screening. "We believe that new technologies that can bring time and cost savings to the drug discovery process are vital to the continued success of the pharmaceutical industry," said Dr Ulf Stenberg, Director, Department of Drug Metabolism Research, Pharmacia Corporation. He added, "Biacore's new high-performance analytical systems appear to offer the ability to improve drug lead characterization and optimization, and therefore enable us to increase efficiency at this critical stage of drug discovery." Commenting on the deal Lars-Göran Andrén, Biacore's President and Chief Executive Officer said, "One of the key applications of the new system will be in determining the binding of potential lead compounds to human serum proteins, an important aspect of ADME* profiling. The ability of the system to rapidly identify compounds with undesirable protein binding profiles will enhance the selection process and help bring suitable drug candidates to clinical trials, faster. He went on to add, "The deal with Pharmacia Corporation, as with the SmithKline Beecham and Millennium Pharmaceuticals collaborations, is a compelling endorsement of our approach." * ADME stands for Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion and represents the pharmaceutical characterization of new drug candidates. This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which, by their nature, involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Notes to editors: 1 Biacore is a global market leader in affinity-based biosensor technology with its own sales operations in the U.S., across Europe, in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The technology is protected by a strong patent portfolio. Target groups consist primarily of medical and life science research laboratories and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies all over the world. Biacore focuses on drug discovery as the prime area for future growth. The company currently has five systems on ® the market with its BIACORE 3000 system offering specific application in drug discovery processes upstream of high-throughput screening (HTS). The new high-performance system refered to in this press release will focus on applications downstream of HTS. Based in Uppsala, Sweden, the company is listed on the OM Stockholm Exchange and Nasdaq in the U.S. In 1999 the company has sales of SEK 340.4 million and an operating income of SEK 67.6 million. Further information on Biacore can be found on the web: www.biacore.com Address and phone: Biacore International AB Rapsgatan 7, SE-754 50 Uppsala, SWEDEN Phone: +46 (0)18-675700 Fax: +46 (0)18-150111 info@biacore.com 2 Pharmacia Corporation is the result of a merger between Pharmacia & Upjohn and Monsanto Company and begins life as one of the world's fastest growing pharmaceutical businesses. Pharmacia Corporation employs more than 60,000 people worldwide and has research, manufacturing, and administration and sales operations in more than 60 countries. The company has a strong portfolio of pharmaceutical products, a robust pipeline of new drugs in development and invests more than $2 billion a year in pharmaceutical R&D activities. Pharmacia Corporation is a major shareholder in Biacore (41%). However, this alliance with Biacore is a wholly independent venture based on Pharmacia Corporation's validation of the new high-performance system. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/04/12/20000412BIT00650/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/04/12/20000412BIT00650/bit0002.pdf